Practice shooting apparatus



E. L. DALE PRACTICE SHOOTING APPARATUS June 6, 1950 3 Sheets-Sheet 1' Filed Sept. 14. 1946 INVENTOR I Eldon L. 002 BY M: ATTORNi-IY June 6, 1950 E. 1.. DALE PRACTICE SHOOTING APPARATUS Filed Sept. 14, 1946 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 lNVENTOR Eldon L. Dale.

June 6, 1950 E 2,510,382

PRACTICE SHOOTING APPARATUS Filed Sept. 14, 1946 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 I 23 F f L- E i] (a 14 J lNVENTOR Eldon L. Dale.

Patented June 6, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,510,382 PRACTICE SHOOTING APPARATUS Eldon L. Dale, Long Beach, Calif.

Application September 14, 1946, Serial No. 697,129

6 Claims.

1 This invention relates to a practice shooting apparatus which is instructive and also incorporates an element of amusement.

' An object of my invention is to provide a novel practice shooting apparatus which consists primarily of completing an electrical circuit to record a hit, the completion of the electrical circuit requiring ability and skill.

, Another object of my invention is to provide a novel practice shooting apparatus in which the object fired upon seems to continuously approach the operator of the apparatus.

A feature of my invention resides in the provision of a background for the object 'to be fired upon, this background as well as the object being reflected in a mirror and is not directly observe by the operator of the apparatus.

Another feature of my invention is to provide an apparatus of the character stated; in which the electrical circuit consists essentially of a contacte'r which is swept by the object fired upon and a second contacter swept by the toy machine gun.

' Other objects, advantages and features of invention may appear from the accompanying drawing, the subjoined detailed description, and the appended claims.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of my practice shooting apparatus.

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken on line 2-2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a diagrammatic view of the hit determining electrical circuit.

Figure 4 is a diagrammatic View of the hit recording circuit.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, my practice shooting apparatus consists of a housing or box l. A hood 2 is constructed on the rear of the housing or box I, and the front of this hood is open so that the operator can view an inclined mirror 3, which is fixedly mounted within the hood. A board or plaque is positioned on the bottom of the box I, and this plaque has painted upon it a suitable scene or background which will give a realistic picture when viewed in the mirror 3.

The object to be fired upon, such as the aeroplane 5, is mounted on an arm 6, which hangs from a shaft I. The shaft 1 is continuously rotated by means of an electric motor 8, and driving through suitable gearing or other drive means 9. The aeroplane 5 reflects in a vertical plane and consequently will be viewed in the mirror u: by the operator. The aeroplane 5 can be observed by the operator during approximately of its travel. The remainder of the time the aeroplane is hidden due to the construction of the hood 2. As the aeroplane rotates, the operator will thus view it as approaching him and will also see the aeroplane against the background or picture which is painted upon the plaque 4.

A simulated machine gun H3 is mounted on a post I! and is positioned adjacent the front edge of the box I. The toy machine gun can be moved in a vertical plane to follow the movement of the aeroplane 5 due to the fact that the post II is mounted on a pivot l2. Hits are obtained by mechanically crossing the proper electrical contacts and at the proper moment as differentiated from a light beam or the like which operates through a selenium seal or the like.

The electrical circuits shown diagrammatically in Figures 3 and 4 consist of a disk or contacter l3, which is stationary, and this contacter is swept by a finger l4 rotating with the shaft 1. The contacter l3 has a number of spaced contacts thereon, shown at 5, and each of these contacts is engaged in turn by the finger I4. A sec-- ond contacter plate I6 is mounted adjacent the post I I, and the contacts 11 thereof are manually engaged by the contact finger I8, which projects from the post H. The battery i9 is electrically connected to both of the fingers M and I8 through suitable leads 2!). Corresponding'contact points [5 and I! are connected by means of wires 2l-that is, there is a wire 2! which connects one contact If: and one contact ll. It will thus be evident that when the finger M engages a-contact which is connected to a contact I! covered by the finger l8, then the electrical circuit is complete and will fiow through the bat-- tery Hi. When the above condition exists, a hit is recorded. However, if the operator does not place the finger l8 on the proper contact, then the circuit is not completed and a hit is not recorded. In other words, the operator must sweep the contacts I! in the proper manner and must do this manually in order that hits may be recorded.

The recording circuit is shown in Figure 4, and consists of a series hook up, including the contactors l3, It, a coin switch 22, a trigger switch 23, and a light 24. The circuit also includes in parallel a bell 25 and a small motor 26, which partially rotates at each hit and shows a number, thus recording the total number of hits made.

In operation, the shaft 1 is continuously rotated, thus revolving the aeroplane or other object 5. The player observes the aeroplane in the mirror 3 and swings the simulated machine gun ID in a vertical arc to follow the path of the aeroplane 5 in the mirror. The finger I4 is continuously sweeping the contacts l5, and if the operator places the contact l8 on the proper contact H, which at that moment is connected to a contact l5 covered by the finger M, then a hit is recorded.

Having described by invention, I claim:

1. A practice shooting apparatus comprising a housing, a shaft journaled in the housing, means to rotate said shaft, an object mounted on said shaft and rotatable therewith, an inclined mirror mounted on the housing above said object, the object being observable in said mirror, and a simulated gun mounted on the housing and operable by the player, an electrical contactor adjacent said shaft, a finger rotatable with the shaft and engaging said contactor, a second contactor adjacent the simulated gun, a contact finger on the gun, said last named contact finger sweeping the last named contactor, said first and second contactors being connected in an electrical circuit, and signal means in said electrical circuit.

2. A practice shooting apparatus comprising a housing, a shaft journaled in the housing, means to rotate said shaft, an object mounted on said shaft and rotatable therewith, an inclined mirror mounted on the housing above said object, the object being observable in said mirror, and a simulated gun mounted on the housing and operable by the player, a scenic background in the housing adjacent the rotatable object, said background being reflected in the mirror with said object, an electrical contactor adjacent said shaft, a finger rotatable with the shaft and engag ng said contactor, a second contactor adjacent the simulated gun, a contact finger on the gun, said last named contact finger sweeping the last named contactor, said first and second contactors being connected in an electrical circuit, and signal means in said electrical circuit.

3. A practice shooting apparatus comprising a housing, a shaft journaled in the housing, means to rotate said shaft, an object mounted on said shaft and rotatable therewith, an inclined mirror mounted on the housing above said object, the object being observable in said mirror, and a simulated gun mounted on the housing and operable by the player, an electrical contactor adjacent said shaft, said contactor having spaced contacts thereon, a finger rotatable with the shaft and sweeping the contacts, a second contactor adjacent the simulated gun, a finger on the gun sweeping the second contactor, each contact on the first contactor being electrically connected with a contact on the second contactor, and a signal means in the electrical circuit.

4. A practice shooting apparatus comprising a housing, a shaft journaled in the housing, means to rotate said. shaft, an object mounted on said shaft and rotatable therewith, an inclined mirror mounted on the housing above said object, the object being observable in said mirror, and a simulated gun mounted on the housing and operable by the player, a scenic background in the housing adjacent the rotatable object, said background being reflected in the mirror with said object, an electrical contactor adjacent said shaft, said contactor having spaced contacts thereon, a finger rotatable with the shaft and sweeping the contacts, a second contactor adjacent the simulated gun, a finger on the gun sweeping the second contactor, each contact on the first contactor being electrically connected with a contact on the second contactor, and a signal means in the electrical circuit.

5. A practice shooting apparatus comprising a shaft, a finger on the shaft and rotatable therewith, a contactor adjacent the shaft and engageable by said finger, said finger continuously sweeping the contactor, a simulated gun, means movably mounting said gun, a second contactor adjacent the gun, a contact finger on the gun engaging the second contactor, the contacts of said first and second contactors being connected in an electrical circuit, and signal means in said electrical circuit. 7

6. A practice shooting apparatus comprising a shaft, means rotatably mounting the shaft, a contact finger mounted on said shaft, an electrical contactor adjacent the shaft, said finger sweeping the electrical contactor, said contactor having spaced contacts thereon, a simulated gun, means movably mounting the gun, a second cons. tactor adjacent the simulated gun, a finger on the gun sweeping the second contactor, each contact on the first contactor being electrically connected with a contact on the second contactor, a signal means in the electrical circuit.

ELDON L. DALE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 679,325 McCullough July 30, 1901 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 832,178 France Sept. 22, 1938 

